Fun with lists

[sharelle]

My thoughts are getting increasingly random.  Therefore, I must bend to the will of bulleted lists:

• Media "yeses" and "nos"
     -  I got my hands on a copy of Kaena: La Prophétie.  I'd been eager to watch this for a number of reasons:  (1) I knew next to nothing about it except that it was an animated feature, which I can rarely resist.  (2) It had the look of Final Fantasy: TSW which, despite the poor press, I thoroughly enjoyed.  (3) It included the vocal talent of several well-respected actors including Anjelica Huston, Richard Harris, and Keith David (who, actually, let's face it, lends his voice to everything!).  And (4), the chances of me seeing it at all had looked slight up until now, since its theatre release is very limited.  Frankly, I was disappointed.  Oh, the eye candy was pleasing enough -- the animation was absolutely stunning -- but the film itself was clichéd and poorly plotted. 
  
  Now, I don't usually mind cliché as a general rule.  Plenty of my favorite films, books, series, etc. are based on one.  I'm even guilty of incorporating several into my own writing, and this storyline had been used well in the past -- 'misunderstood misfit discovers a power she didn't know she had and uses it to save her people' with a side helping of 'overcoming social prejudices.'  Nothing wrong with that.  My problem was that the entire film seemed to be in such a rush to get its message out.  (Whatever message that was.)  Exposition about characters' pasts felt nearly shoved down my throat, the lead character was a Sue to the nth degree, and the supposed romance subplot was all too forced.  Explanations are not forthcoming, either.  Just why does Kaena have such a connection to the heart of the planet on which she lives?  Apparently the only answer, and the one the audience is expected to accept, is, "just because."  No real reasons are ever given for why things are the way they are, and it often left me feeling as though I was missing something.
  
  While the animation itself was beautiful, it seemed that for as many steps that were taken to make the characters look 'real', their bodily dimensions appeared grossly unrealistic.  Normally, I don't have a problem with that either -- I mean, if I wanted realism I'd watch a live-action feature rather than animation.  I think my primary issue was the character of Kaena herself and the fact that her chest was hugely disproportionate to the size of her body, not to mention the fact that it seemed to alter in size as the movie progressed.  By the end, Kaena's breasts were so huge, even I felt rather uncomfortable watching her doing all that running and jumping around.  (And the fact that the Selenite Chamberlain expressed the desire to 'fuse' with her 'pretty little body' rather than with his own species was really just kinda creepy.)
  
  The acting was another story.  While those who performed in this film are normally very good in their own right, they were given such poor material to work with, it felt like a relapse into George Clooney Batman-level badness.  Richard Harris was the Dumbledore of high-tech aliens; soft spoken and sagely, sure, but the way he just pulls information out of nowhere was highly unbelievable.  After leading his salvage team to retrieve the lost Vecanoi, a glowing blue computer that holds the sum of all the knowledge of his people, determined to reclaim it even if it means the destruction of Kaena's people, he arrives there only to decide that his own people are dead, he may as well leave Vecanoi where it is.  Where this sudden information comes from, I have no idea, especially since he'd spent the last 6 centuries trying to return to them.  The late Mr. Harris does okay with what he's given, but the script itself leaves much to be desired.  Anjelica Huston's oozy queen of the Selenites spends the movie grunting, shrieking, and yammering about destroying the 'monster,' all while trying to avoid having sex with the last male of her species (wtf?!?).  Kirsten Dunst, who I've never really thought of as a 'good' actress to begin with, seems to take melodrama to new lows.  She yells a lot, stomps off in an overactive huff (and little else), and paints herself as an after-school special for teen rebellion.  I've come to the conclusion that, while she may be blockbuster material when it comes to web-slingers' love interests, animated voice-overs are not Ms. Dunst's thing.  Probably the only character worth watching was Gommi, a high-strung, highly-evolved, cocky worm, played by Greg Proops.  All in all, my curiosity is sated, and the artwork was fun to watch, though I'd probably pass on giving Kaena a second viewing.
     -  But on the plus side . . . .  After so many of the shows I've enjoyed have been going off the air lately (Friends, Angel, Wonderfalls, etc.) I'm happy to say that I've been finding a few new ones.  Recently, I've been catching every episode that I can of last season's Dead Like Me in preparation for the next season's premiere later this month.  Now, that is a clever show.  Snarky with just a touch of philosophy -- I think I'm getting hooked!  Although I find watching the interaction between George's family exceedingly painful (Is anyone's mother that miserable?), I feel drawn to the pathos of George's new existence and the blink-and-you-might-miss-them one-liners.
• In other news, I've been trying to make a portfolio of all my stained-glass.  If I can get the lighting right, I might get to post a few piccies if anyone's interested in seeing some artwork I actually do know how to do.  *G*
• I may take a break from writing my Buffyfic and work a bit on my unpolished, unfinished D&D story.  What can I say?  I can't resist kenderkim!  *VBG*
• Now to clean my closet.